Trivia time. You gotta keep your trivia knowledge sharp.

* Four states do not allow billboards: Maine, Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii.

*Denmark has the highest income tax rates. Tax rates based on income run from 42 percent to 68 percent.

* Babe Ruth hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium in 1923.

* The steeplechase, a form of horse racing involving jumping fences and ditches, is so called because originally the race went from church steeple to church steeple, hence a steeplechase.

* The Canary Islands is not named after the canary (the bird), but after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name is “Canariae Insulae,” meaning “Islands of the Dogs.”

* The Tootsie Roll, introduced in 1896 by Leo Hirshfield of New York, was named after his daughter, nicknamed “Tootsie.”

* Aluminum foil began replacing tin foil in 1910. Some people still refer to aluminum foil as tin foil and use it to make tin foil hats. (Tin foil hats are supposed to shield the brain from electromagnetic fields and mind control. I know a couple of people who wear them.)

* Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

* Cow’s milk contains 3-4 percent fat and butter 80 percent fat. Therefore, it takes about 21 pounds of milk to make a pound of butter. (Milk, like water, has a weight of about 8 pounds per gallon, so 21 pounds is 2.5 gallon.)

* The vice president’s residence in Washington, D.C., is located on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Historically, the VPs and their families lived in their own residences. But with the increasing cost of these Washington, D.C., residences, in 1974 Congress agreed to refurbish the house at the Naval Observatory as a home for the VP. Vice President Gerald Ford acceded to the presidency before he could use it, and his VP, Nelson Rockefeller, used it only for entertaining. Walter Mondale was the first VP to move in, followed by George Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Chaney and currently, Joe Biden.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): On quiz shows, some female contestants say “I have the best husband in the whole world.” How do they know? Have they tried them all? ~Anon.

How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?

Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.

Upon learning an interesting word, if you’re like me, you’ll be tempted to work it into a conversation to improve your vocabulary or just to see the expression on your friends’ faces. Since this is an online conversation, maybe you’re feeling a little motivated now.

If after reviewing this list of eight, you feel up for a challenge, please read through to the Word Power Exercise.

Eight Interesting Words

Zymurgy: The art or practice of fermentation

Accismus: When you pretend not to be interested in something – when you really are

Snollygoster – A shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician

Josser – One not born to circus life

Tyrotoxism: To be poisoned by cheese

Winklepicker a style of shoe worn by British rock and roll fans

Defenestrate: To throw out a window

Unobtanium: A material that is unobtainable, often because it doesn’t exist

Word Power Exercise:

See how many of these Eight Interesting Words you can include in a 50 word (or less) comment. The only two rules are: 1. Your comment must make sense, and 2. You may not use any of the words directly beside another one, such as in a list. Have fun, and add your blog address, so visitors can stop by and say Hi. For more word fun, check out my Eleven Interesting Words post here.

Waiting my next batch to zymurgy, I was talking with a friend about a snollygoster, I find that accisumus. This snollygoster was a josser. They told me this snollygoster suffered from tyrotoxism. My friend was dressed in an unobtanium winklepicker which made me feel like I wanted to defenestrate him.

Son, the worst form of josser is a snollygoster, from whom integrity is unobtanium, and who is more interested in zymurgy than even the trapeze. Their disinterest isn’t accismus; like those winklepickered punks in Clockwork Orange, they could defenestrate August Ringling and still have the appetite to dine unto tyrotoxism.

Politics are the pits these days. All the candidates are a bunch of snollygosters. I am sure some wish they got a case of tyrotoxism. They act so accismus in their speeches. They also try to look cool by wearing winklepickers.

Recovering from a nasty case of tyrotoxism, I put on my winklepickers and set out to hoodwink a couple of jossers into divulging their zymurgy secrets. Then I ran into Colonel Fraudy, a local snollygoster usually out for cash. Sensing accismus on his part, I defenestrated the unobtanium. Close call.

Dual citizenship possible, but complicated

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Question: Is it possible for a U.S. citizen to have dual citizenship with another country? (Asked by a curious column reader.)

Reply: Good question. Had I answered this off the top of my head, I would have said no, because I had always heard that U.S. citizens could only have our citizenship. And it was sort of that way, but no more. Here’s what I found out.

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, often called the “citizenship clause,” states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” (Naturalization through immigration.) The original intent of this provision passed in 1868 after the Civil War was to guarantee citizenship to former slaves and their descendents. Children of foreign diplomats are excluded, but foreign-born children of U.S. citizens are not. It is true that persons who become U.S. citizens through naturalization are required to state under oath that they renounce their old citizenship. However, the rub comes in with the laws of other countries. They may not recognize this and still consider the person to be a citizen of that country, so you have dual citizenship whether you want it or not. The U.S. was pretty strict about dual citizenship for quite a while. You can imagine the messes about voting, serving in the military and so on. However, most of the laws forbidding dual citizenship were struck down by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1967 and 1980. Basically, the court held that the “citizenship clause” prevented Congress from revoking a person’s U.S. citizenship without evidence of his or her intent to give up this citizenship. This allowed for dual citizenship, and the State Department, which has jurisdiction over these matters, was effectively under court order to ignore the old laws that were still on the books. The 1967 case involved a U.S. immigrant to Israel. Israeli laws confer Israeli citizenship for any Jewish immigrant without having to apply for it. The person in this case was alleged to have lost his U.S. citizenship, not because he had become an Israeli citizen, but because he had voted in an Israeli election. Citizenship in other countries may also be obtained through naturalization, for example in Canada. (In Canada, giving up the original citizenship requires signing special forms in the presence of Canadian officials … otherwise, you’ve still got it.)

So, there are our laws, and there are their laws (or sometimes “policies”). As you might imagine, there are all sorts of situations and ramifications. Here are a few concerning dual citizenship:

You can serve in a foreign army (which is sometimes required by that country) without loss of U.S. citizenship, unless you are engaged in hostilities toward the U.S., commit treason against the U.S., or act with the intent of giving up your U.S. citizenship.

Even if you were born in the U.S., with naturalized parents or grandparents, be careful on visiting the “old country.” You may still be considered a citizen there and subject to mandatory military service.

Marriage to a U.S. citizen does not automatically confer U.S. citizenship on the foreign spouse, but he/she becomes an “immediate relative.” Obtaining a green card through an immediate relative is perhaps the fastest route to U.S. permanent residency. Under U.S. immigration law, an immediate relative is defined as the spouse, child (under the age of 21 years) or parent of a U.S. citizen. The biggest advantage of the immediate relative category is that it does not fall under the preference categories and there is no priority date backlog. An immigrant visa is always available under the immediate relative category.

To serve as president, you must be a “natural-born citizen.” This might seem to imply that a person must be born in the U.S., but the first Congress extended this to children of citizens born overseas or out of the limits of the U.S. Examples:

– Barry Goldwater, 1964 presidential candidate, was born in the Arizona Territory in 1909. (Arizona became a state in 1912.)

– George Romney, 1968 Republican hopeful, was born in Mexico in 1907 to American parents who had moved there to escape anti-Mormon prosecution.

– John McCain, 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 to American parents.

Speaking of presidents, here’s a trivia question. How many former presidents are not buried in the U.S.?

Simple stir stick prevents superheated explosion

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Question: I recently read a story about a boy being burned while trying to boil water in a cup in a microwave oven. When removed, the heated water in the cup was not boiling, but suddenly “blew up” into his face causing bad burns. What caused this?

Reply: Yes, this can happen under the right conditions, which hopefully would be avoided after reading this. First, let’s take a look at droplet and bubble formation. Starting with droplet formation, as in the case of rain, the water vapor (invisible gas) must be cooled to the dew point temperature. At this temperature, the vapor is ready to condense, but it won’t unless there is something on which to condense.
Droplets don’t just form spontaneously. What is needed is called hygroscopic nuclei. Without such nuclei the vapor may be supercooled, and droplets will form instantaneously when some nuclei come along, such as particles of dust, pollen, etc. In fact, one method of artificial rainmaking involves introducing minute crystals of silver iodide into clouds. (Silver iodide has a crystalline structure similar to ice.) If the water vapor in the cloud is below the dew point, the crystals act as nuclei and droplets form that grow into raindrops.
Now, let’s move on to bubbles. They, too, do not form spontaneously and require nucleation sites – a rough surface, residue, etc. You may have noticed that in a glass of carbonated beverage the bubbles generally rise from the bottom where the washing detergent has not made the glass squeaky clean.
When water is heated, as in a microwave oven, it is possible to raise the temperature above the boiling point without actually boiling the water, or to superheat it. This is particularly true in new cups or containers that do not have scratches or residue to act as nucleation sites. So, in this case, the water is more than ready to boil, and a bump or jar can bring the superheated liquid in contact with some rough places, or sites, and the water “flash boils,” releasing a lot of pent-up energy. The rising bubbles of the sudden boiling carry hot liquid with them, and the water explodes out of the cup – causing burns in some cases.
What to do? Provide nucleation sites in the heating liquid. For example, place a wooden or plastic stir stick, or perhaps a tea bag or instant coffee in the cup. Then on the other hand, you could get up a little earlier and use a teakettle to boil water.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): A signature always reveals a man’s character — and sometimes even his name. ~Evan Esar

Moon “phased” by changing positions

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

A couple of questions, one technical and the other better-rounded.Question: The moon goes through phases – new, first-quarter, full and third- (or last) quarter. Yet, when we see a first- or third-quarter moon, the face of the moon we see is one-half illuminated. Is there something wrong? Shouldn’t we have half moons? (Submitted by a lunar-observant column reader.)

Reply: Well, the thing to keep in mind is that about half of the moon’s surface is always illuminated – the half of the spherical surface that is toward the sun. On Earth, we see phases, or different portions, of the moon illuminated because of the relative positions of the sun, Earth and moon.
For example, we see first and third quarters when the sun is 90° east and 90° west of the moon, respectively. On Earth then, we see half of the moon’s face illuminated. (Think of someone shining a flashlight on a basketball and you are 90° from the person. Depending on whether they are shining the light from left or right, you’ll see only half of the ball [left or right] illuminated.)
Got it? OK, the phase count starts with the new moon, when the sun and the moon are overhead at 12 noon. Astronomers refer to phase in reference to how far around the moon is in its orbit. One-quarter around, the moon is in first-quarter phase (6 pm), but we see it half illuminated as described above. Halfway around it is full moon (12 midnight – moon and sun on opposite sides of the Earth). Third-quarter moon (6 am), the moon is three-quarters around in its orbit, but again, only half of the moon is illuminated for us poor Earthlings.

Question: I bought a hat the other day, and I wear a size 7-3/8. Does the hat size number mean anything?
Reply: Checked into it, and oddly enough the size seems to be based on the roundness of your head (or hat). Most American manufacturers take the length, or circumference, of the band inside the hat and divide by pi (p = 3.14). This gives the diameter of the hat if you were round-headed.
For example, if the hatband had a length of 23 inches, then 23/p = 7-3/8 (to the nearest 1/8). Of course, most of our heads aren’t really round, but the hat size number gives us an indication of fit. If you have a fitting problem, you can always try a baseball cap with the adjustable plastic strap in the back.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): When somebody tells you nothing is impossible, ask him to dribble a football. ~Anon

Tumblin’ tumbleweeds are a pain in the west.

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Here are a couple of “What is” questions.

Question: What is tumbleweed? (Asked by some curious dude.)Reply: “Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds” (Sung by Sons of the Pioneers, if you’re old enough to remember).
I guess we’ve all seen tumbleweed a tumblin’ in western movies, or maybe in person. There are several types of plants that tumble, but the most common and familiar is the Russian thistle. This tumbleweed has a round shape that makes for easy rolling in the wind. What is really going on is the sowing of seeds. The round plant snaps off from its roots in the fall when the leaves are dying and its seeds are ripe. It is estimated that a single tumbleweed plant can have a couple of thousand seeds.
The seeds mature in flowers that are sort of wedged into the stems of the plant. As a result, they all don’t get dumped out on the first roll, but are spread far and wide as the “weed” tumbles along the prairie.
The tumbleweed (Russian thistle) turned up in the West in the 1800s where it is well-adapted to the dry conditions. It may look harmless, but keep in mind that it is a thistle that is spiny and sharp, and it can cut horses and cowboys. Also, the tumbleweed can be a pain for farmers when it goes tumbling across their fields dropping seeds.

Question: What is quicksand?
Reply: Very simply, it is a mixture of sand and water. We can walk on ordinary wet sand like on the beach because a small amount of water acts as an adhesive for the sand grains. In loose sand, we sink in a bit, but the sand grains are in contact and distribute our weight. However, sand and adequate water gives a mixture (quicksand) that acts like a liquid and we tend to sink in it.
Quicksand is usually found in rivers or streams where pools of water become filled with sand, or where groundwater comes up through a sand deposit.
The movies make quicksand a culprit with people and animals sinking to their deaths in it. Quicksand is denser than water, and so more buoyant. If you panic when in quicksand, you may sink, similar to panicking in water. If you ever get into quicksand, don’t panic and try to float on your back – you won’t sink. If no one is around to help you out, keep calm, and do a few gentle body motions that will take you to the nearest edge. Sand swimming so to speak, but no freestyle.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. -Bill Watterson

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

A touch of the grape may be good for the heart

Question: I heard on the news that grape juice may help prevent heart attacks. How is this? (Asked by a curious column reader.)

Reply: What’s good and bad for you seems to change every day, and it is easy to get lost and/or confused. First of all, let’s talk about blood cells. Most people know there are white and red blood cells. But there is a third type called platelets. Platelets are involved in the first stage of the blood clotting process. When a blood vessel is injured (and you bleed), platelets gather there and provide a sticky substance that “glues” the cells together. Other chemicals in the blood then assist in forming a clot that seals the wound.

Clotting is not always good, in the sense that heart attacks can occur when blood clots stick to fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries, blocking the flow of blood. You may have read that aspirin and red wines tend to reduce the platelets’ activity to clot, thereby reducing the possibility of heart attack. Natural substances called flavonoids found in various foods appear to have the ability to reduce platelet clotting. Red wines and grape juice contain flavonoids.

In recent studies on humans and monkeys, it was found that drinking purple grape juice reduced the platelet activity by as much as 75 percent, as compared to 45 percent for aspirin and red wine. It is hoped that a drug can be manufactured from grapes that could be used in heart attack treatment. However, always remember to consult with your physician on such things. Blood clotting is very essential and slowing down platelet activity could lead to unwanted bleeding.

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript) I like red wine because it’s more sophisticated, more complex and mature. It’s a bit like me, no longer young but not old yet either. -Mick Hucknall

Twelve Interesting Words

How many words are in your vocabulary? The average high school graduate is said to know about 10,000 words. The average 4-year college graduate is said to know about 20,000 words. Do you have room for any more words in your vocabulary?

Here are some interesting words, which you may not know.

Upon learning an interesting word, if you’re like me, you’ll be tempted to work it into a conversation to improve your vocabulary or just to see the expression on your friends’ faces. Since this is an online conversation, maybe you’re feeling a little motivated now.

If after reviewing this list of twelve, you feel up for a challenge, please read through to the Word Power Exercise.

Twelve Interesting Words

1. Nudiustertian – The day before yesterday

2. Pronk – A weak or foolish person

3. Pettifogging – Something petty or trivial

4. Inaniloquent – Pertaining to idle talk

5. Mesonoxian – Pertaining to midnight

6. Tyrotoxism – To be poisoned by cheese

7. Nihilarian A person who deals with things lacking importance.

8. Scopperloit – Rude or rough play

9. Gargalesis – Forceful tickling

10. Dumbledore – A type of bee

11. Humdudgeon – An imaginary illness

Word Power Exercise:

See how many of these Twelve Interesting Words (EIW) you can include in a 75 word (or less) comment. The only two rules are: 1. Your comment must make sense, and 2. You may not use any of the EIWs directly beside another one, such as in a list. Have fun, and add your blog address, so visitors can stop by and say Hi. For more word fun, check out my Eight Interesting Words post here.

Nudiustertian I met a Pronk who was talking about a pettifogging subject. Inaniloquent, he went on and on about Dumbledores and mungo. Then he proceeded to Gargalesis of me. Since it was around Mesonoxian and I was coming down with Humdudgeon and he was a Nihilarian prone to scopperloit and I had to perform Tyrotoxism on him.

Nudiustertian just about mesonoxian walking down the street to my home I saw a mungo collecting cans which I found to be pettifogging. This mungo stopped what he was doing, and decided to inaniloquent with me about his humdudgeon. This nihilarian was telling me that while he was digging, he found some food and ate it, and then got Tyrotoxism. He also told me that a Dumbledore stung him and he had a allergic reaction. This guy was a real pronk!

Nudusterian a pronk was inaniloquently pettifogging aboud the mesonoxian.
The Nihilarian dumbledore scopperloit the pronk with gargalesis.

That’s about the best I could do;p The first one I think has them in too much of a consecutive order… Violates rule 2.. Anyway.. There’s my attempt at it;p

It was no humdudgeon that hit me the other day, in fact, it was a case of tyrotoxism!! I felt like such a pronk. I should have known that my mungo brother would have brought me a snack of cheese that he found in the nudiustertian trash.
Not wanting to make him feel like a Nihilarian, I broke down and ate it.

After our snack we started engaging in gargalesis, like we did as children, but when it turned into a scopperloit brawl, I started to feel sick and called it quits.

Now, I am stuck in bed pettifogging through inaniloquent magazines, and reading about the mesonoxian habits of the Dumbledore to stay busy while trying to recover.

Being an avid nihilarian and a young pronk, I’m inclined to attempt the activity of pettifogging, which is better than the follies of scopperloit and safer than gargalesis, a symptom of humdudgeon (a disorder some claim is acquired when dumbledores, who live in dumpsters, attack mungos).
Of course, this monologue is rather inaniloquent; provoked by an onset of tyrotoxism I caught at a filthy diner nudiustertium. I’ll go to bed, as it’s nearly mesonoxian.

July 30

On this day in . . .

1932 – Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor, premieres.

1954

Elvis performed with The Blue Moon Boys in his first paid appearance at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining.

1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission – David Scott and James Irwin on Apollo Lunar Module module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon. (Astronaut David Scott gives salute beside the U.S. flag July 30, 1971 on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission. Photo: NASA/Liaison/Getty Images)

1974 –Watergate Scandal: US President Richard M. Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the United States Supreme Court.

1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.

July 27, 2008Comments Off on Curiosity corner: The tale of two kiwis — bird and fruit linked by looks

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Curiosity corner: The tale of two kiwis — bird and fruit linked by looks

Question: Are the kiwi bird and the kiwi fruit related?

Reply: Well, not really. You don’t usually cross a bird with a fruit. However, there is a correlation, or perhaps a resemblance. The one kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal bird found only in New Zealand. Named for their cry, they are brownish or grayish in color with hairlike plumage. Kiwis are about a foot tall and weigh on the order of 5 pounds. They have slender bills and minute wings, but no external tail.

The other kiwi (fruit) grows on a grapelike vine and is native to south central China. Sometimes known as a Chinese gooseberry, the kiwi is a small, round fruit with fuzzy greenish brown skin that roughly resembles the plumage of the kiwi bird. The fruit was brought to New Zealand in the early 1900s, and this country is now a major producer. I suppose the fruit’s resemblance to the bird is how it got its name.

Question: Are all fish cold-blooded?

Reply: For the most part, yes. But, there are a couple of exceptions. Cold-blooded means the body temperature of the creature varies with the external temperature. Warm bloods, like us, maintain a relatively constant body temperature irrespective of the surrounding temperature. There are some fish, tuna and the mackerel shark, that have body temperatures higher than that of the surrounding water. Hence, they are termed warm-bodied. Cold-blooded fish lose internal heat in the circulating blood to water passing through the gills, and the body temperature is usually within a degree of the surrounding water temperature. Tuna and mackerel sharks, however, have a system whereby internal heat in the warm blood going to the gills is transferred to the cold blood coming from the gills. As a result, yellowfin and skipjack tuna have body temperatures that can vary 10-20°F above the water temperature – so warm-bodied Their cousin the bluefin tuna might qualify as a warm-blooded, as opposed to warm-bodied, fish. The bluefin maintains a fairly constant body temperature, varying only a few degrees over a much wider range of water temperature. Ask Charlie, or any mermaid you happen to see. …

The information for this post was sent to me by a friend to run on Rob’s Megaphone.

I thought it was really interesting, so I dug a little. I discovered that this post had made the rounds in the blogosphere – more than once. What I found most interesting was that more than 200 sites ran this history from the 1500s without verifying its accuracy and with no credit given to the original source. As it turns out some of the post’s claims are factual and some of are fictitious.

Have a look at the post, and be sure to check out My Point at the end.

Here’s the post:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500’s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence the saying ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying ‘dirt poor.’ The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a ‘thresh hold.’

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, ‘Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.’

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could ‘bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and ‘chew the fat.’

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or ‘upper crust.’

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a ‘wake.’

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a ‘bone-house’ and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the ‘graveyard shift’) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be ‘saved by the bell’ or was considered a ‘dead ringer.’

My Point: There’s clearly a market for information that may or may not be true. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and the National Enquirer come to mind as publications that print both fact and fiction. I have no problem with these publications; we know their mission from the outset. My objection is when fiction is presented as fact. As far as I’m concerned no information is better than misinformation unless it is presented as “true to the best of my knowledge” or some similar disclaimer.

In a myth-busting article “Facts” About the 1500s?” published in History-Magazine.com, author Halvor Moorshead sought to separate the popular post’s fact from fiction. Have a look at some of the busted myths. Moorshead clear debunked a few claims, but it turns out that more than one of the original claims may be true; the problem seems to be less with the popular practices than if the practice started in the 1500s.

Considering the pervasiveness of recycled information together with the credibility given to published print, fact checking is an indispensable step for those who want to be more than another rumor rag. I have posted about an urban legend or two, but always with a disclaimer as to the uncertainty of the claim’s authenticity. For more myth busters, check out http://www.snopes.com and http://urbanlegends.about.com,

by Dr. Jerry D. Wilson,

Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Reply: First let’s define paradox. (We’re big on defining things in science so we know what we’re talking about.) Paradox comes from the Greek word meaning “contrary to expectation,” and more generally, a paradox is something that is seemingly contradictory to common sense and yet perhaps true.

Zeno was a Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century B.C. He dealt with paradoxes, and perhaps his most famous, in one form, goes something like this. Suppose you’re traveling in a straight line from point A to point B. In doing so, you first travel half the distance between the two locations, say to point C. Once at the midpoint C, you must then travel half the remaining distance (C to B). But once you arrive at the midpoint (D) of this remaining distance, you still have to travel half of the remaining distance (D to B). So, there’s always half the remaining distance to travel, and this goes on ad infinitum (even though we would run out of letters in the alphabet).

Since it takes time to travel half of any given distance (no matter how small), and any remaining distance in our travel from A to B can always be divided in half, it will therefore take an infinite amount of time to travel from A to B. That is, you’d never reach B!

Of course, Zeno knew that in reality the trip could be made. He was into philosophizing that common sense and the laws of motion couldn’t both be true at once, or more generally, that reality is unreal. I’m not going to get into that (take a philosophy course at Lander), but basically, in taking an infinite number of time and distance intervals, mathematically, you are dividing infinity by infinity, which is not defined or allowed. (But I’ve counted to infinity twice.)

So, let’s get back to the real world and let me give you an old one to think about. Suppose you are half another person’s age. To make things easy, let’s say you are 10 and the other person is 20 years old. Then you are 10/20 = 1/2 = 0.50, or half the other person’s age.

Let a decade (10 years) go by. The ages are then 20 and 30, so you are 20/30 = 2/3 = 0.67, and you are two-thirds the person’s age. Then another ten years goes by, and at the ages of 30 and 40, you are 30/40 = 3/4 = 0.75, or three quarters the person’s age. In another 10 years, we have 40/50 = 4/5 = 0.80, and you are four-fifths the person’s age. Notice how you are closing the gap and getting fractionally closer to the age of the other person. Question: How long will it take for you to catch up and be the same age as the other person?

(You should live so long.)

C.P.S. (Curious Postscript): So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful for impotence. -Winston Churchill

The world’s most difficult word to translate loses much in translation

In an article published by the BBC on June 22, 2004, “ilunga” was deemed the world’s most difficult word to translate. According to the article by Oliver Conway, “ilunga” topped a list compiled by 1,000 linguists as the “hardest word to translate.” It was reported that “ilunga,” which comes from the Tshiluba language, spoken in south-eastern Congo, means “a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time”.

The survey was conducted by Today Translations, which emphasized, while the ilunga’s definition can be found in the dictionary, the difficulty in translation comes from its cultural connotations and usage.

BUT WAIT, there is a problem.

According to an article in Wikipedia: There is no independent evidence supporting Today Translations’ claim that “ilunga” is in fact the world’s most difficult word to translate. In fact ilunga is apparently a reasonably common family name in the DR Congo, and it has nothing to do with a conditionally forgiving person. Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, the translation company failed to respond to inquiries regarding the survey, made by the same reporter. Also, according to an entry in Nation Master Encyclopedia, not all of the words on Today Translations’ list were even legitimate. Some of them turned out to be mistakes and hoaxes.

In my opinion, the category the “most untranslatable word” is on its face problematic to begin with. It appears the article infers that these words are the hardest to translate into English, but there is no specific mention of this. Despite the 226,000 hits for “ilunga” from my July 19, 2008, Google search (many of which represent blogs recycling the original BBC article), it seems Today Translations’ linguistics need better translators. It also appears the BBC could have done a better job deciphering fact from fiction.

Even so, the list “The ten foreign words voted hardest to translate,” is fun to consider, so here it is:

1. Ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in south-eastern Congo, and Zaire]

2. Shlimazl [Yiddish for a chronically unlucky person]

3. Radioukacz [Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain]

4. Naa [Japanese word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasise statements or agree with someone]

5. Altahmam [Arabic for a kind of deep sadness]

6. Gezellig [Dutch for cosy]

7. Saudade [Portuguese for a certain type of longing]

8. Selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]

9. Pochemuchka [Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions]

10. Klloshar [Albanian for loser]

Hip Hot Games

My pal Mike from New York City is a frequent visitor to Rob’s Megaphone. He’s a very supportive, talented, and witty blogger. I wanted you all to know about his blog: Hip Hot Games. I think it’s a lot of fun. I bet you will too. It’s described as: Fun word and number games. Unscramble words, guess spelling of words, math games, and much more. It also includes fun board games you can buy.

My favorite rap albums and songs from the 80s. Hot 80s rap beats and rap artists. 80s rap MP3s, music CDs, and DVDs you can buy.

I am proud to announce that Curiosity Corner has found a home away from home in the blogsophere right here on Rob’s Megaphone.

Curiosity Corner: Guys and Gals

Dr. Jerry D. Wilson, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Lander University

Question:We use the terms “gal” and “guy” to refer to females and males. I can see where “gal” would be a slang contraction of “girl”, but where does “guy” come from? (Asked by a curious guy.)

Reply: I had to look to find this one. We use “guy” to refer to the male species – this guy, that old guy (like me). However, the word originally meant someone that was grotesque or weird looking. And, it is an eponym – a word formed from the name of a real person. The person in this case was Guy Fawkes, the infamous leader of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in Britain. Guy and his buddies hid quite a few barrels of gun powder under the Parliament building, with the intent of blowing up King James I and Parliament members on November 5. The plot was discovered, and Guy and most of his co-conspirators were captured and executed.The day of the planned big boom (Nov. 5) became know as Guy Fawkes Day, and eventually became the equivalent of the American Halloween. Grotesque effigies, know as “guys”, were carried through the streets. There were bonfires and fireworks – masked children begged from door-to-door for pennies for “guy” (fireworks). By the 1800s, “guy” was used in Britain as slang for someone who exhibited weird dress or behavior.

In America, however, the term “guy” got cleaned up and came to mean simply “a man”. This filtered back to Great Britain (U.K.), and “guy” doesn’t imply much of a “weirdo” anymore.

OK, how about you answering some questions.

Here’s a couple I gleaned from The Learning Kingdom and a couple trivia type. Everyone should know the answers.1. How many muscles are there in an elephant’s trunk? 2. What fish travels 800 miles backwards? 3. The longest English words without the vowels a, e, i, o, and u, are “rhythm” and “syzygy”. I’ve got rhythm, do you have syzygy? 4. I was reading an opisthograph the other night. Have you ever read one?Answers: 1. The trunk of a full-grown elephant is about 7 feet in length and weighs 300 lb. This extension of the nose and upper lip has more than 100,000 muscles and no bones. 2. Chinook salmon fry (young fish) are hatched in high mountain streams. When a year or two old, they return to the Pacific Ocean, being carried downstream. But, their current-fighting instinct keeps them facing upstream. For the most part, the 800-mile journey is completed swimming upstream while moving downstream. 3. You might have a syzygy if you’re a heavenly body. In astronomy, this is an alignment of three celestial objects, such as the Sun, Earth, and Moon or a planet (as viewed from above). Syzygy for the Sun-Earth-Moon system occurs at full moon and new moon. 4. I’m sure you have. An opisthograph is a manuscript or book with writing on both sides of the pages. Students sometimes turn in a report as an anopisthograph and waste paper. And now you know.

NOTE: This short post is about digg.com, a social network site that ranks posts. I was just notified that a new blog desgined to rescue burried diggs has been created. I thought this was a great idea because some great posts get burried by diggers for reasons unrelated to the quality of the post. My post on the Andy Griffith Show group is currently being featured on this new site.

Robert Sells Greenwood

Who’s behind Greenwood Calendar

Dr. Robert Stevenson, Greenwood Calendar President

Testimonials

Greenwood Calendar Testimonials:

Dr. Robert Stevenson, this is a marvelous addition to the processes used to keep Greenwood informed about what is going on, in and around town. Thank you for providing this GREAT (and FREE!!!) service. You are always coming up with good ideas.

Dr. Bettie Rose Horne

Commissioner, SC Commission on Higher Education

"We have used Robert for multiple commercials and videos and found him to be very easy to work with and flexible. He is very patient and very open to suggestions. I really appreciate how he works with our complicated schedule and getting our daughter involved in the commercials."

Henry Herron, Tidwell Jewelers

"Robert is very proactive and community-minded. He seeks to showcase Greenwood and the Lakelands in the most positive way possible. He is professional and very easy to work with. When it comes to partners, he certainly is one of those that is making a big impact on growing Greenwood greater."

"The City of Greenwood has used Robert's video services for years now. He is easy to work with, and I am very pleased with his product."

Charlie Barrineau, Greenwood City Manager

"We, at The Humane Society of Greenwood, are so pleased with the partnership we share with Robert Stevenson to help further our mission. His weekly video seriesand social media package has helped us get important information to our target audience. I recommend him and his talents to any company, civic group, or nonprofit that wants to expand the reach of its marketing and message."

Karen Pettay, Director Greenwood Humane Society

"Beyond Abuse could not be happier about the video services Robert provided for us as part of our major fundraiser, Dancing with the Greenwood Stars. Not only did he create the promotional video, he also created a video of the actual performance that we were then able to market and raise additional funds for the agency. Robert was professional and a pleasure to work with during the entire process. We are definitely planning to ask for Robert’s services again next year!"

Cathy Miller, Executive Director Beyond Abuse

"Robert Stevenson conducted an interview with our band, Jackson Station, in late 2014. We had no idea at the time the tremendous impact it would have on our band. It was an opportunity for thousands of folks in the Greenwood area to get to know who we were and what we did musically. It also gave us a sample of our work to give to potential sites for us to play music. It was a tremendous boost for the band and our ability to play more in Greenwood and out of town. From the moment we did that interview, we have never had a problem finding opportunities to play music and our social media following has grown as well. In addition, Robert asked us to be a part of a music special that included many other local artists. That was a blast, and he helped us by promoting us from the actual Jackson Station site in Hodges. It has been a pleasure working with Robert. We are 100% positive that any business can meet their goals utilizing Greenwood Media Marketing."